Friday, July 21, 2006

PLAYING WITH FUTURES: MANIPULATING COMMODITIES MARKETS

Dheer Singh Patel, a farmer in Madhya Pradesh, could not make money despite having a better harvest of Arhar dal this year because there was a glut in the market. Surendra Dhyani, a trader in wholesale grains market in Khari Baoli, Delhi, sold his stocks at much lower prices than last year, hoping he would buy fresh stock at further lower prices. To his dismay, the market went up instead of down, and so much so that he couldn’t afford to buy fresh stocks at such high prices. And Eluri Parvathi, an Andhra housewife, is testing out alternative food concoctions on her family because she can’t afford to prepare sambhar, as pulses are being sold at exorbitant prices between Rs.45 to Rs.60 per kg. It’s been said before, and tritely, we’ll say it again – devastated by poor returns and a mountain of debt, the Indian farmer is preferring suicide to a life of misery and penury.